Chapter 379: Chapter 378

Will Liu Donghe be biased against Flower Gods?

Uh… this possibility seems very high.

Thinking about it carefully, Liu Canzhi used to be a fan leader in the entertainment industry, but recently, because of himself and the Shamanic Silkworm Artifact, he has turned over a new leaf, no longer engaging in such things, focusing on research at home, and his Cultivation has also progressed by leaps and bounds.

Brother Liu Junyi and Liu Donghe himself should both be particularly relieved, otherwise they wouldn't have said something like “associate with good people” to him; they all thought that he had led Liu Canzhi to the right path.

Although that was indeed partly the reason.

And now, he’s preparing to drag Liu Canzhi to Liu Donghe, to say that they are planning to promote a Flower God, and ask if he could write a poem for them…

Not only write a poem, but also require Liu Donghe to host a banquet and such…

Isn't that a bit too bold?

Will he be slapped away by Liu Donghe?

Li Qi’s expression stiffened.

“Hmm? Brother Li, why do you have that expression?” Liu Junyi asked, seeing Li Qi’s stiff face, a little puzzled.

“Uh… Brother Liu, I want to ask, what is Uncle’s attitude towards things like Flower God rankings?” Li Qi thought for a moment, deciding it was better to ask beforehand.

Even if he died, he wanted to die knowing why.

Liu Junyi pondered for a moment upon hearing this, then replied, “Flower Gods? Uncle’s attitude? Oh, you mean that. When Canzhi was being mischievous before, Uncle was indeed caught in the crossfire and didn't have a very good impression of the Flower Gods. However, he’s not an unreasonable person; he knows it was Canzhi’s mischief, not the Flower Gods’, so he didn't do anything to them.”

“He also knows that all flowers are naturally beautiful and have their admirers, and he himself has always loved plum blossoms. Although he has never personally attended a show, he does grow them at home. But he has always felt that Flower Gods have their duties, and fulfilling them is enough. It’s no different from other jobs and Dao paths; there’s no need for excessive admiration. Everyone just does their part.”

“However… the world probably won’t listen to such words. After all, now it’s not just Flower Gods; many actors and performers are also gaining popularity, each with their own admirers, aren't they? If performers are like this, let alone Flower Gods.” Liu Junyi said with a smile, seemingly not finding it particularly special.

“Then, Brother Liu, do you have a favorite Flower God?” Li Qi asked with some interest.

Liu Junyi said, “As for me, like Uncle, I’ve always loved plum blossoms—elegant, charming, knowledgeable, and polite. However, we both share the same view: Flower Gods should be admired from afar, not idolized, and certainly not to be trifled with, otherwise it would be rude.”

Li Qi nodded, indicating he understood.

Looking at it this way, it’s not bad.

Flower Gods truly have considerable influence in Tang Nation.

Even a renowned scholar of Liu Donghe’s caliber and mindset has a favorite Flower God, let alone others.

However, he also breathed a sigh of relief. He probably… wouldn't be slapped away, right?

“By the way, Brother Li, why are you so interested in Flower Gods today? For more than half a year, I’ve seen that Brother Li’s daily life is as disciplined as those sages. Such a change, could it be that you’ve come into contact with a certain Flower God?” Liu Junyi looked at Li Qi curiously, sensing that Li Qi’s state wasn’t quite right.

Clearly, something was on his mind.

Liu Junyi also had a certain understanding of Li Qi. In the past six months, Li Qi… was extremely disciplined, to a terrifying degree. He woke up on time every day, arrived at school on time, studied on time, ate on time, then came to Liu Canzhi’s place to develop Shamanic Silkworm Artifacts, and then left on time to go home and rest, repeating the next day.

Besides that, he did nothing else.

No socializing, no entertainment, no talking to too many people. Even though he often received invitations due to his reputation, he refused them all, living a life like an ascetic Cultivator.

With such self-discipline, and being a Genius himself, rapid progress in Cultivation was only natural. Even Liu Donghe had praised him and hoped Liu Canzhi would learn from him.

And now, for such an unreserved person to actively ask about Flower Gods, Liu Junyi wouldn't believe it if nothing had happened behind the scenes.

“Uh, there is indeed a reason for that, but it’s for a more important matter, it’s just… inconvenient to say.” Li Qi spread his hands helplessly.

It was indeed hard to say.

Say what? Heavenly Demon, or Demon of the Five Aggregates? Or Shaman God?

Ah, sir, spare me, just give me a quick death, no need for such punishment.

“Indeed, for a steady and reliable person like you, there must be a reason for your words. This sudden departure from Imperial Academy to Baiyue is probably also for this reason, so I won’t ask.” Liu Junyi nodded.

As they spoke, the two finally walked out of the maze-like garden and arrived at Liu Canzhi’s courtyard.

As mentioned before, the lights were still on, and the courtyard had expanded considerably.

One could see that Liu Canzhi had built many platforms and placed various cultivation chambers in the courtyard. These chambers were filled with different models of Shamanic Silkworm Artifacts.

Many Spiritual Artifacts formed a complete automated cultivation workshop, and there were hundreds of nests of Shamanic Silkworm Artifacts here.

These were the results of Li Qi and Liu Canzhi’s hard work over the past six months.

“Canzhi is inside, so I’ll take my leave now.” Liu Junyi bowed, then quickly departed.

Li Qi watched him leave, then walked into the courtyard.

Passing through the noisy cultivation room, Li Qi saw Liu Canzhi sleeping soundly inside.

It was clear he had been working for a long time; next to him were many Shamanic Silkworm Artifact eggs. By subtly adjusting the eggs, one could alter the traits of the silkworms after hatching.

However, this was a delicate task, extremely difficult, and prone to high error rates. It often took a long time to achieve a single successful adjustment.

Liu Canzhi must have fallen asleep during this process.

According to Li Qi’s character, he shouldn’t disturb others’ sleep, but the situation was urgent.

He reached out and pushed Liu Canzhi.

Liu Canzhi shuddered and immediately flipped over at an extremely fast speed: “I’m not late! I’ve been going to school these past few days!”

Li Qi couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time.

Listening to his tone, did he skip class for the Shamanic Silkworm Artifacts?

It certainly fit his personality.

“Brother Liu, wake up, it’s me.” Li Qi patted Liu Canzhi’s shoulder.

Liu Canzhi took a few deep breaths, then punched Li Qi on the shoulder: “You scared me to death! I thought Father was looking for me again. So you’re back! You didn’t even tell me in advance! The terminal isn’t unusable.”

“But it’s good that you’re back. Come see my results! Recently, I used exhaustive enumeration to forcibly calculate an architecture. As long as 41,261 Shamanic Silkworm Artifacts are laid flat in a 12-foot, 3-inch area, with a half-centimeter interval, this can increase efficiency by 20%, with the error controlled within 10%, so the effect won't be too affected. I’m currently trying to engrave this trait into the Shamanic Silkworm Artifact’s interior.” At this point, he scratched his head and sighed.

After sighing, he pointed to one of the devices and said, “It’s just that the Formation we’re using now has too low a precision. If we want to replace it with a better one, it’s too expensive. But if we can’t show results, it’s hard to ask Father for money. I was thinking, once you’re back, we two brothers can chip in a bit and get a seventh-grade adjustment Formation, the kind specifically for demon beast farms. I used to have a friend who worked as a beast tamer at a demon beast farm. He has some discarded second-hand stuff, which is much cheaper. Although it’s old, it’s not damaged; it’s just reached its discard age. It’s more than enough for us. Li Qi, what do you think?”

“En, these are all necessary expenses. I have no objections. As for the money… I don’t have silver right now, but I still have over ten million Qi beads. That should be enough, right?” Li Qi pulled out his terminal and checked.

“That’s enough, more than enough! I still have some money left too. If we haggle a bit, we should be able to get it. Then our adjustment precision will at least go up a notch!” Liu Canzhi clenched his fist and said happily.

Liu Canzhi wasn’t short on money; he even bought Li Qi’s sixth-grade precious jade before. But Shamanic Silkworm Artifacts were truly a money pit. They devoured dozens of ninth-grade Spiritual Artifacts, and even eighth-grade ones, every day, not to mention the research production line and outdoor cultivation chambers—all of which cost money.

Now, after more than half a year, both Li Qi’s and his money were flowing like water.

However, Li Qi was a Shaman, and Qi beads were self-produced and consumed, so he didn’t need to spend money, thus he didn’t feel much about it.

He didn't feel distant from Li Qi at all, treating him completely as one of his own.

After all, they had been working overtime like this for over half a year, so they were all very familiar with each other. Li Qi had only been away for half a month, which wasn't very long for them.

Only for Li Qi was it very long…

He himself hadn't expected to experience so many things in just half a month.

“That’s good. I’m going to sleep now. The records and logs for the past half-month are over there; you can check them yourself.” Liu Canzhi stretched, preparing to lie down and continue sleeping.

“Wait, we haven’t talked about the main business yet!” Li Qi quickly went over and pulled him up again.

Liu Canzhi had just woken up and rattled off a bunch of words, and he was already getting ready to leave before Li Qi even had a chance to speak. He was truly as impulsive as ever.

“Ah? Haven’t we finished with the main business? What else is there? At most, it’s the supply of Sacred Flame. Didn’t we agree before that we’d go to the Holy Flame World together during the holidays to collect some Sacred Flame?” Liu Canzhi asked, puzzled.

“I’m talking about the technical main business,” Li Qi said.

Then, Li Qi reached out and waved his hand in front of the original Shamanic Silkworm Artifacts.

His human body’s small universe descended, and at the same time, countless Qi surged out, gathering the Shamanic Silkworm Artifacts before him.

At the same time, the adjustment Formation below was also activated.

One by one, the runes began to flicker, operating according to their predetermined paths. The Qi surging from Li Qi’s body was absorbed by the Formation, and began to exert its effects according to the original regulations.

A Formation, in essence, is a fixed spell; it can be activated simply by injecting energy.

Of course, while a spell can be activated, using it well requires long-term practice and isn't that simple, just like driving a car.

As long as you release the clutch and step on the gas, the car will move.

But experienced drivers are ultimately different from novices.

Liu Canzhi immediately perked up. He knew that Li Qi was trying to modify the traits of the Shamanic Silkworm Artifacts.

As a type of artificial life, the Shamanic Silkworm Artifact is not a true living organism; its essence is closer to a Spiritual Artifact that can act autonomously.

Therefore, by modifying the composition and arrangement of Qi within the Shamanic Silkworm Artifact, one can change all its characteristics. For example, making them naturally prefer to arrange themselves in a certain shape while feeding, which can increase their efficiency.

Or changing the Spiritual Artifacts they prefer to eat, or changing the products they weave and spit out—all are possible, but the premise is that you must program everything well, and the Shamanic Silkworm Artifact must be able to bear it.

For a 3D printer to print something, you first need to import a model. That’s roughly the principle.

This was a considerably difficult technical task.

To instill a Spiritual Artifact into the Shamanic Silkworm Artifact’s automatic weaving instinct, you first have to thoroughly understand all the details of that Spiritual Artifact, then break it down according to the corresponding encoding, turn it into runes, and also compress the content before it can fit into the Shamanic Silkworm Artifact’s tiny body.

Shamanic Silkworm Artifacts cannot carry and understand overly complex content. Moreover, a single Shamanic Silkworm Artifact can only be edited when it’s still an egg. Once hatched, the edited content becomes their instinct and can no longer be altered.

If a mistake is made, the hatched ones can only be destroyed, which is a major part of the cost.

Many times, Li Qi and Liu Canzhi simply didn’t know if their previous ideas would work. They could only edit them once and then try.

If it worked, it would be saved as a backup and for technical reserves, which are the ones left in the cultivation chambers outside.

If it didn't work, it would be destroyed.

Over the past six months, they had already destroyed one or two hundred batches of different defective products.

Liu Canzhi watched Li Qi’s actions closely. He knew Li Qi’s character; he would only do something if he was confident.

His good friend had been away for half a month, and what he had learned, he was now eager to show him, calling it 'main business'.

It must be something extraordinary.

And Li Qi, on his side, controlled the traits of the Shamanic Silkworm Artifacts, slowly arranging them according to a formula.

Formulas are a very magical thing.

How do you calculate the area of a square?

Simple, if you know the formula, just measure the length and width, and then use the formula to calculate it.

If you don't know the formula, you can only use exhaustive enumeration. For example, first make a small square model with an area of one, then use this model to gradually cover the entire square. The number of models needed to cover it completely is the area.

This exhaustive method is not only unversatile but also very troublesome and causes great errors. Although it can barely be used, it is certainly not easy to use.

Formulas are not that easy to obtain. Every formula is the crystallization of the wisdom of predecessors. A formula requires great effort to be proven, but once obtained, it can save countless efforts.

For example, on the issue of group boundary efficiency for Shamanic Silkworm Artifacts, Liu Canzhi could only use exhaustive enumeration or clumsy methods to measure it bit by bit before.

And now, Li Qi, who had comprehended the concept of boundaries, could calculate it directly.

Simple, easy, and as long as the formula is correct, the conclusion drawn will definitely be correct.

Liu Canzhi watched with his own eyes as Li Qi edited the existing data, and then quickly hatched the Shamanic Silkworm Artifacts.

“Wait, it hasn’t been tested yet.” Liu Canzhi quickly stopped Li Qi when he saw him about to hatch them.

“No need.” Li Qi waved his hand: “Just watch.”

Then, in one hour, the Shamanic Silkworm Artifacts finished hatching.

Li Qi took some Spiritual Artifact fragments from a nearby pile and threw them into the new Shamanic Silkworm Artifacts.

Liu Canzhi’s eyes widened!

This efficiency!

It increased by over ninety percent!